This invention relates to electronic gaming devices which are designed to comply with both federal and state gaming regulations, including the requirements of the Federal Communication Commission (F.C.C.). For the most part, traditional electronic gaming devices, such as video poker machines, slot machines, twenty-one games or craps games have not been able to comply with such regulations.
This compliance is accomplished through program designs for the play of these games which will cause them to be played in adherence to pari-mutuel definitions.
Pari-mutuel betting is considered the fairest system of betting known and is generally credited with the elimination of bookmakers at racetracks. The pari-mutuel system was devised in 1870 by Pierre Oller, a French businessman. The term pari-mutuel derives from the French expression meaning "a wager among ourselves". There have been many improvements in pari-mutuel wagering since its inception. The present method of calculating payoff prices in pari-mutuel pools was set up in 1908 by Col. Matt J. Winn and Judge Charles Franklin Price of Louisville, Kentucky. These methods have remained fairly standard in the United States and Canada.
The general concept of pari-mutuel wagering comprises a betting system in which winners share the total stakes wagered on an event minus a percentage for the management. Another way of stating this is that pari-mutuel wagering is a form of betting in which the losers' wagers (less a percentage for the house and taxes) are distributed among the winners. A representative example of pari-mutuel wagering occurs in horse race betting in which those who bet on the winning horses share the total stakes wagered minus a small percentage set aside for the management and to fund the purses in the horse race. In the typical horse race pari-mutuel wagering system, the first three horses (the win horse, the place horse and the show horse) create winning events for the bettor.
Machines have been developed that record and calculate the payoffs in a pari-mutuel wagering system. Traditionally a pari-mutuel machine has been defined as a machine for registering and indicating the number and nature of bets made (as on a horse race) in the pari-mutuel system of betting. Electronic pari-mutuel machines have been developed that register the wagers in pari-mutuel betting as they are made and calculate and post the changing odds and final payoffs.
Video poker has become one of the most desirable games of choice in the history of modern legalized gaming. Video poker is a generic term covering a myriad of electronic gaming devices, referred to as video poker machines, that simulate the play of different types of poker games. In its original form, a video poker machine electronically displayed a five card draw poker hand. The player had the option of holding or discarding any of the five displayed cards. The video poker machine would then display replacement cards for the cards that had been discarded. The player would win multiples of his original bet based on the type of poker hand that he had achieved after the draw of the cards. The payouts were based on traditional poker hand ranking with a Royal Flush being the highest and paying the player the most, all the way down to a Pair of Face Cards that would pay the player one-for-one odds on his original bet. Any hand less than a Pair of Face Cards would be a loser.
A traditional video draw poker machine uses a single deck of 52 cards and has one player using that single deck. The deck is reshuffled after every hand. It is a simple mathematical calculation to determine the probability of the various types of poker hands being achieved on any single deal and draw. The payouts can then be selected so that the house will hold a percentage of the wagers made. On any given hand, there is no guarantee that the house will win, rather the profit of the game is realized by the probabilities involved from the play of the machine over a long period of time.
In traditional electronic video poker machines, the house can adjust the pay tables according to the laws of probability, putting the odds in favor of the house. The house then banks the game and takes wagers with the odds in their favor and relies on the laws of probability for its profits. Another factor the house uses to increase its profits is the lack of proficiency and inexperience of the player with regard to draw poker probability and theory of play. This also results in an increase of the level of the house's profits.
Electronic video poker machines as described above do not operate in a pari-mutuel manner. Players do not typically compete for common pools of money in these games. They are played as house banking games and therefore fall outside legalized gaming as defined and permitted in most states. Pari-mutuel gaming on the other hand is legal and permitted in a vast majority of states within the United States. The present invention describes game formats which will comply with these pari-mutuel regulations and, therefore, be playable in all states allowing these types of gaming activities.
Indian tribal gaming operations have become a large and controversial form of gaming in recent years. At present, the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Agency is in the process of prohibiting all coin operated gaming devices on Indian land unless the tribe enters into a compact with the state government that authorizes the use of these types of gaming devices. It may be assumed that the introduction of pari-mutuel-type electronic gaming machines will allow for a much smoother entry into these markets as these machines will comply with regulations already in force in most states.
Federal Communication Commission regulations prohibit the advertising of most gaming through the television media. An exception to these prohibitions is pari-mutuel gaming such as horse racing and bingo. It is anticipated that the prohibitions prescribed by the F.C.C. will not apply to the pari-mutuel electronic video poker gaming machines of the present invention. The ability to advertise on television will be a tremendous boon to operators who have previously been at a disadvantage in their competition with horse and dog tracks and bingo operations.
The combination of compliance with both pari-mutuel and F.C.C. regulatory mechanisms will also allow for entry of the devices of the present invention into the airline market. It is envisioned that with the introduction of gaming machines that comply with regulations in force in most airspace in the U.S., the placement of pari-mutuel electronic video poker consoles on airliners will provide the passengers with a source of entertainment heretofore unavailable. The value of this in terms of both the attraction and additional revenues for an ailing U.S. airline industry cannot be overemphasized.
The principles of the present invention can also be applied to slot machines, twenty-one games and craps games that are also operated as electronic equipment. These machines can be programmed to operate in a pari-mutuel fashion with the house retaining a predetermined percentage of each wager made.
In view of the inability of traditional electronic gaming devices, such as video poker machines, slot machines, twenty-one games and craps games, to meet legal requirements in most states because the traditional electronic gaming devices are based on probability for determining profits, it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a method of playing electronic gaming devices that will satisfy legal restrictions in most states and thus satisfy the legal requirements existent in a rapidly expanding marketplace.
It is a feature of the present invention to program an electronic gaming device to operate based on a pari-mutuel wagering system so that the amount the player can win is based on the amounts that have been wagered by that player and other players less a portion set aside for the gaming establishment that is providing the gaming device.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the profit to the gaming establishment is predetermined because it is based on a preset portion of each wager that is deducted from the common pari-mutuel pool available to the player for a winning hand or for redeeming his accrued credits. This will make electronic gaming machines legal in those states and jurisdictions that permit pari-mutuel wagering.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description.